Innoviz specializes in Light Detection and Ranging, known as lidar – a remote-sensing method used by automotive and technology companies in their pursuit of driverless-vehicle technology. Light pulses are fired from on-board lasers. When the signals rebound, the car knows the distance between it and the objects ahead of it.

The Innoviz approach to lidar uses a solid-state design intended to improve long-range scanning. When teamed with radar and on-board cameras, vehicles are given a digital understanding of the world around them.

“Along with radar and vision technology, lidar is an essential component to Delphi’s automated driving perception suite,” said Glen De Vos, Delphi’s senior vice president and chief technology officer. “Innoviz is developing a product that provides a high-performance intelligent-sensing solution to help advance automated driving technology.”

De Vos described the commercial partnership agreement with Innoviz as a minority investment.

Delphi has entered into a series of partnerships with big names in recent years as it moves out of the traditional automotive supplier role into more of a technology company. It has partnerships with Silicon Valley chip maker Intel and on-board camera expert Mobileye.

Like Mobileye, Innoviz came together under the leadership of former Israeli Defense Forces members.

“Delphi shares our vision for making vehicles smarter and safer,” said Omer Keliaf, Innoviz’s chief executive officer. By challenging the conventions of Lidar design, we were able to develop a lidar solution that delivers superior performance at a reasonable price and in a much smaller footprint – three factors that are required to help autonomous driving achieve mass commercialization.”